MBB: University Athletic Association

[tommygun]

TommyG:

You're right...that was a long.  But you raise some good points.  I wonder if the SOS for NYU is dictated more by geography and economics than anything else.  The travel demands of the UAA schedule are pretty intense for a D3 program and I'm sure university administration would prefer NYU play their OOC schedule close to home.  Same thing with UR.  Fortunately there are a number of good/decent programs in their general area (their other loss this year was by 9 to a top-15 undefeated Ithaca team).  All the UAA schools are pretty much in the same boat, but I think the teams Chicago, WashU and Brandeis have in their region are a lot stronger than those in NYU's and UR's, so short of traveling to New England or Virginia, I'm not sure who they could play that would increase their SOS in their area.

TommyG:
Ethelred I agree that UAA schools have to play a little closer to home due to the conference travel.  However, to argue that NYU can't find anyone to play I don't believe.  I have not driven from NYC to the other surrounding areas in a long time.  However, it seems to me that Philadelphia and Boston are within 200 miles and would be region games.  There are a zillion teams that are a busride away.   I'm not saying that they shouldn't play home games or schedule nothing but tough non-conference games.  I just feel that playing at least  a couple of upper tier schools and getting on a bus and travelling a few hours to play some tougher opposition might help them get off to a better start and overall do better in the conference, while it seems right now they always get off to a slow start, with last night just being the latest example.  Plus if they beat a couple of those teams they might be able to get in the tournament with 18 or 19 wins, which in the past they've been left out at 19.  I think they are the only UAA team right now that has to win 20 to get in, and I think they bring a lot of that on themselves.  Anyway its their choice and if that's what they choose to do, then its fine by me.  But I do believe its a choice and not geographic isolation.

[Ethelred the Unready]

TommyG:

You're right...that was a long.  But you raise some good points.  I wonder if the SOS for NYU is dictated more by geography and economics than anything else.  The travel demands of the UAA schedule are pretty intense for a D3 program and I'm sure university administration would prefer NYU play their OOC schedule close to home.  Same thing with UR.  Fortunately there are a number of good/decent programs in their general area (their other loss this year was by 9 to a top-15 undefeated Ithaca team).  All the UAA schools are pretty much in the same boat, but I think the teams Chicago, WashU and Brandeis have in their region are a lot stronger than those in NYU's and UR's, so short of traveling to New England or Virginia, I'm not sure who they could play that would increase their SOS in their area.

TommyG:
Ethelred I agree that UAA schools have to play a little closer to home due to the conference travel.  However, to argue that NYU can't find anyone to play I don't believe.  I have not driven from NYC to the other surrounding areas in a long time.  However, it seems to me that Philadelphia and Boston are within 200 miles and would be region games.  There are a zillion teams that are a busride away.   I'm not saying that they shouldn't play home games or schedule nothing but tough non-conference games.  I just feel that playing at least  a couple of upper tier schools and getting on a bus and travelling a few hours to play some tougher opposition might help them get off to a better start and overall do better in the conference, while it seems right now they always get off to a slow start, with last night just being the latest example.  Plus if they beat a couple of those teams they might be able to get in the tournament with 18 or 19 wins, which in the past they've been left out at 19.  I think they are the only UAA team right now that has to win 20 to get in, and I think they bring a lot of that on themselves.  Anyway its their choice and if that's what they choose to do, then its fine by me.  But I do believe its a choice and not geographic isolation.

TG - I agree completely that playing a tough schedule is important at all levels, from HS to DI.  All I am saying is that the quality of opponent wouldn't necessarily be that much better.  I'll admitt to not being all that familiar with teams in the Atlantic or Mid-Atlantic regions but Conn Col, Baruch, Oneonta and Stevens  I would think match up pretty well with other teams available.  Especially when the cost to the University is factored in.  I don't know the answer to this, but does it matter if their OOC games are in region or out of region?  NYU is in the East, most other NYC/NJ/pa schools are not.  If it doesn't matter, you're right, a game against a Williams or Amherst would seem reasonable. 

[Hugenerd]

Case gets a big conference win to start things off today, beating Emory.  And for Chicago the streak continues...WashU wins.

Anyone at the game with some comments?

[deiscanton]

Hugenerd, I am sorry that I will not be able to travel to Brandeis today to talk to you in person.  This will be the second UAA game in two years that I will not be able to be on the Brandeis campus to see, and I hate not being able to see Carnegie Mellon in person this year.  While you can take the "T" (the MBTA for those of you from outside Boston) from Cambridge to Waltham, MA by public transportation easily, there are no Sunday morning trains out of Canton, MA. To get to Brandeis today, I would have to go by taxi part of the way, as no one is willing to personally drive me to Waltham in this weather.  As you know, there is a winter storm going on right now, so be careful when you are travelling. 

I will listen to the game on WBRS and/or watch the live stats for the men's and women's games.  I hope to catch up with you in person at a later date, so if you don't see my e-mail link signature at the bottom of my comment, please tell me and I will post it up again.

PS-- My pick for today's game stands for itself, as I am doing this on a rational basis to see who I believe will probably win this game.  I think that Carnegie Mellon is the bonafide second best team in the UAA as of right now until someone proves otherwise.  However, anything can happen on any given day in the UAA, and I hope that Brandeis pulls off the upset today.

[deiscanton]

PS-- By the way, for a refresher, here are the games that can count in NYU's regional record:

1.)  All UAA conference games-- the UAA is defined as a multi-region league by the NCAA, and therefore, all conference games in the UAA count as a regional game for each UAA team.  In this case, all UAA games count as Northeast for Brandeis, East for NYU and Rochester, Great Lakes for Carnegie Mellon and Case, South for Emory, and Central or Midwest for Chicago and Wash U.

2.)  All non-conference teams listed as part of the defined East Evaluation region.  (That would put most teams in New York State in that category.)

3.)  All non-conference teams located within a 200 mile radius of the NYU campus.  (That would include teams in New York City and New York State that are not part of the defined East Evaluation region, as well as all non-conference teams in New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, and teams in Delaware and/or Maryland located within the 200 mile radius.  That would also put the NESCAC's Little Three of Amherst, Williams, and Wesleyan in that category as well as the NESCAC's Trinity, all teams in Connecticut, teams in Rhode Island within 200 miles, and it goes as far as to put all teams in the Central and western portions of Massachusetts into that category.  The city of Boston itself is more than 200 miles from New York City.  Washington, DC is also more than 200 miles away from New York City so DC teams don't count in this.)

4.)  All non-conference teams in Pennsylvania.  (New York State and Pennsylvania are in the same administrative geographic region of the NCAA-- all games in your NCAA administrative region are in-region games even if the team is more than 200 miles away from your campus.  That would put teams such as Messiah, Scranton, DeSales and Lebanon Valley in that category.)

Comparing that with Brandeis-- Brandeis can count these games are part of the Brandeis regional record:

1.)  All UAA games.

2.)  All non-conference games comprising of teams listed in the defined Northeast Evaluation region.  (a/k/a all non-conference teams in the New England states.)

3.)  All non-conference teams located within a 200 mile radius of the Brandeis campus.  (That would put some teams in the Albany, NY area in that category.)

4.)  All non-conference teams located in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington, DC.  (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont as well as the other 4 listed states are all part of the same NCAA administrative geographic region.)

[ADL70]

The Maroons have Emory and CWRU coming into the windy city next weekend.  If that doesn't get them off the schneid--oh my!

[Hugenerd]

CMU played very poorly on offense today, missing many open shots and not looking very fluid in general.  Brandeis played pretty well, DeLuca played very well and that seemed to carry them.

[deiscanton]

Hugenerd--

I listened to the Brandeis/CMU men's game on WBRS and followed the live stats, and what you described is essentially what happened today.  Carnegie Mellon ran into the Sunday buzzsaw that can affect UAA teams on the road where the visiting UAA team plays a tough game on Friday and gets spent on Sunday as a result (the most dramatic example being the Wash U men's team that lost by over 30 points at Carnegie Mellon on the Sunday portion of the trip after playing a tough game on the road against Rochester.)   Carnegie Mellon must have spent a lot of energy to get that victory on Friday.

Also, Steve DeLuca had a great game and Brandeis needed his performance today.   Brandeis goes 1-1 on the weekend as I expected, but I missed out on picking which opponent Brandeis would beat.  I had the Judges winning over Rochester and losing to CMU, but the opposite happened.

On another footnote, the Rochester men swept the Brandeis/NYU road trip for the first time since 2005, and the Rochester women swept the Brandeis/NYU road trip for the first time ever today.  Both teams should get the #1 seed for both the men's and women's version of the Chase Tournament coming up this week.

[dblock]

ok here are my thoughts.

over my last four years at NYU, this was the hardest non-conference schedule I've seen. That being said, the talent of CMU vs. anyone we played until that game was uneven. I think playing a few TOUGH opponents would only due NYU good. As for the Rochester game, Neer should have ran the offense through Chimelowic for the last three years. He absolutely STROKED all day. He wasn't hitting spot up jumpers, he was nailing momentum shifting trey bombs with hands in his face ALL DAY. NYU played a good game, still some things to work on (Turnovers, defense could use an extra umph, etc...) but Rochester came to BALL OUT today.

[Ethelred the Unready]

ok here are my thoughts.

over my last four years at NYU, this was the hardest non-conference schedule I've seen. That being said, the talent of CMU vs. anyone we played until that game was uneven. I think playing a few TOUGH opponents would only due NYU good. As for the Rochester game, Neer should have ran the offense through Chimelowic for the last three years. He absolutely STROKED all day. He wasn't hitting spot up jumpers, he was nailing momentum shifting trey bombs with hands in his face ALL DAY. NYU played a good game, still some things to work on (Turnovers, defense could use an extra umph, etc...) but Rochester came to BALL OUT today.

Yeah, or not.  Mike C is a great scorer, but his first three years the offense ran through a guy named Oniyiruka.  Maybe you heard of him?  6'7" All-American?   Opened up a LOT of outside shots for Mike who has been a very consistent scorer during his career.  Also, when Mike was hurt last year, it opened a spot for Rob Dominiak and all he did was hit 90+ three-pointers for the year, shooting right around 50%.  Add Uche Ndabizu at the 4 and the first three years of Mike's career UR had the consumate inside/outside combination.  The team has changed and he is THE guy this year, and it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.   But no way the offense runs through him the last three years.

[dblock]

ok here are my thoughts.

over my last four years at NYU, this was the hardest non-conference schedule I've seen. That being said, the talent of CMU vs. anyone we played until that game was uneven. I think playing a few TOUGH opponents would only due NYU good. As for the Rochester game, Neer should have ran the offense through Chimelowic for the last three years. He absolutely STROKED all day. He wasn't hitting spot up jumpers, he was nailing momentum shifting trey bombs with hands in his face ALL DAY. NYU played a good game, still some things to work on (Turnovers, defense could use an extra umph, etc...) but Rochester came to BALL OUT today.

Yeah, or not.  Mike C is a great scorer, but his first three years the offense ran through a guy named Oniyiruka.  Maybe you heard of him?  6'7" All-American?   Opened up a LOT of outside shots for Mike who has been a very consistent scorer during his career.  Also, when Mike was hurt last year, it opened a spot for Rob Dominiak and all he did was hit 90+ three-pointers for the year, shooting right around 50%.  Add Uche Ndabizu at the 4 and the first three years of Mike's career UR had the consumate inside/outside combination.  The team has changed and he is THE guy this year, and it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.   But no way the offense runs through him the last three years.

hahaha i trying to be sarcastic...i shoulda thrown in a few smiley faces i guess 

anyway, speaking of Jon and Mike C, its scary to think that both of them wanted to go to NYU but couldn't afford it. Jesus can you imagine the damage that a 4/5 combo of Jason Boone and Onyiruka would have inflicted? Mike C at the 2 and DeCorso at the 3. AND Sean Wallis was interested in NYU also. I'm hyperventilating thinking about the starting 5 that could have been my Sophomore Year.

[Ethelred the Unready]

ok here are my thoughts.

over my last four years at NYU, this was the hardest non-conference schedule I've seen. That being said, the talent of CMU vs. anyone we played until that game was uneven. I think playing a few TOUGH opponents would only due NYU good. As for the Rochester game, Neer should have ran the offense through Chimelowic for the last three years. He absolutely STROKED all day. He wasn't hitting spot up jumpers, he was nailing momentum shifting trey bombs with hands in his face ALL DAY. NYU played a good game, still some things to work on (Turnovers, defense could use an extra umph, etc...) but Rochester came to BALL OUT today.

Yeah, or not.  Mike C is a great scorer, but his first three years the offense ran through a guy named Oniyiruka.  Maybe you heard of him?  6'7" All-American?   Opened up a LOT of outside shots for Mike who has been a very consistent scorer during his career.  Also, when Mike was hurt last year, it opened a spot for Rob Dominiak and all he did was hit 90+ three-pointers for the year, shooting right around 50%.  Add Uche Ndabizu at the 4 and the first three years of Mike's career UR had the consumate inside/outside combination.  The team has changed and he is THE guy this year, and it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.   But no way the offense runs through him the last three years.

hahaha i trying to be sarcastic...i shoulda thrown in a few smiley faces i guess 

anyway, speaking of Jon and Mike C, its scary to think that both of them wanted to go to NYU but couldn't afford it. Jesus can you imagine the damage that a 4/5 combo of Jason Boone and Onyiruka would have inflicted? Mike C at the 2 and DeCorso at the 3. AND Sean Wallis was interested in NYU also. I'm hyperventilating thinking about the starting 5 that could have been my Sophomore Year.

Sorry.  There are sooo many nut-jobs on these boards I just assumed you were one.  My bad.  Good to note that I can exclude you from that list.

First D3 mens game I ever saw was NYU @ UR a couple years ago.  I remember going back home and telling coaches and players that they had NO idea what it would take to play at a high D3 level.  Most HS kids still have no idea.  I remember Boone had calves the size of my head! And Oniyiruka was crazy athletic foa a guy his size.  And the lineup that could have been?  I'd say there would be a very good chance that group might have had a two year winning streak.

[deiscanton]

I went 3-3 last week.  Let's see how well I do this week on my picks.

My picks for this weekend:

Friday, Jan. 16, 2009

1.)  Case at Wash U-- Wash U
2.)  Emory at Chicago-- Chicago

Saturday, Jan. 17, 2009

1.)  NYU at Brandeis-- Brandeis

Extra pick:  Rochester will win the Chase Tournament.

Sunday, Jan. 18, 2009

1.)  Emory at Wash U-- Wash U
2.)  Case at Chicago-- Chicago

[Gregory Sager]

I went 3-3 last week.  Let's see how well I do this week on my picks.

My picks for this weekend:

Friday, Jan. 16, 2009

1.)  Case at Wash U-- Wash U
2.)  Emory at Chicago-- Chicago

Saturday, Jan. 17, 2009

1.)  NYU at Brandeis-- Brandeis

Extra pick:  Rochester will win the Chase Tournament.

Sunday, Jan. 18, 2009

1.)  Emory at Wash U-- Wash U
2.)  Case at Chicago-- Chicago

I am definitely looking forward to seeing Chicago get off the schneid at Ratner tonight. Plus, it's Beach Night, so when I see Mike McGrath and his assistants in luau shirts I can momentarily entertain the illusion that the Windy City hasn't really entered into a new Ice Age.

[thundermike11]

Congrats to Chicago for picking up their first W